The unit covers general foundations of communication systems and a detailed walk through of the implementation of the TCP/IP protocol stack, which forms the basis of the Internet. The unit also covers the basic knowledge of how to analyse, design and implement simple communication protocols.

On completion of this unit students will have developed an understanding of the principles and practice of the layered model of communications architecture, the TCP/IP protocol stack and its component protocols, and various common techniques and tools for protocol analysis and design.

Attributes listed here represent the key course goals (see Course Map tab) designated for this unit.
The list below describes how these attributes are developed through practice in the unit.
See Learning Outcomes and Assessment tabs for details of how these attributes are assessed.

Attribute Development Method

Attribute Developed

Tutorials/labs and assignments include problem solving exercises that require understanding of various protocols and some basic approaches to protocol analysis.

Learning outcomes are the key abilities and knowledge that will be assessed in this unit.
They are listed according to the course goal supported by each.
See Assessment Tab for details how each outcome is assessed.

Final grades in this unit are awarded at levels of HD for High Distinction, DI (previously D) for Distinction, CR for Credit, PS (previously P) for Pass and FA (previously F) for Fail as defined by University of Sydney Assessment Policy. Details of the Assessment Policy are available on the Policies website at http://sydney.edu.au/policies . Standards for grades in individual assessment tasks and the summative method for obtaining a final mark in the unit will be set out in a marking guide supplied by the unit coordinator.

Minimum Pass Requirement

It is a policy of the School of Information Technologies that in order to pass this unit, a student must achieve at least 40% in the written examination. For subjects without a final exam, the 40% minimum requirement applies to the corresponding major assessment component specified by the lecturer. A student must also achieve an overall final mark of 50 or more. Any student not meeting these requirements may be given a maximum final mark of no more than 45 regardless of their average.

Policies & Procedures:

IMPORTANT: School policy relating to Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism.

In assessing a piece of submitted work, the School of IT may reproduce it entirely, may provide a copy to another member of faculty, and/or to an external plagiarism checking service or in-house computer program and may also maintain a copy of the assignment for future checking purposes and/or allow an external service to do so.

These goals are selected from Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table which defines overall goals for courses where this unit is primarily offered. See Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table for details of the attributes and levels to be developed in the course as a whole.
Percentage figures alongside each course goal provide a rough indication of their relative weighting in assessment for this unit. Note that not all goals are necessarily part of assessment. Some may be more about practice activity. See Learning outcomes for details of what is assessed in relation to each goal and Assessment for details of how the outcome is assessed. See Attributes for details of practice provided for each goal.